Chapter 302: Anti-Magic
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nEdward waved his hand, and a piece of paper came out from a small circular gate; it was Asta’s results from the exam. And after seeing the Willpower section, his mouth almost twitched.
nAsta had a Willpower of 5 and was very close to 6, meaning he reached the requirement to use Conceptual Magic in some weak universes. And with a little more training, he should get 6 on the scale.
nOver the years, Edward constantly fought with the Universe’s Will, and his Willpower is only 4, very close to 5. Now, this was not a bad score. From what he learned from Merlin, most Tier 10 individuals score for Willpower.
nThis is one of the reasons that Conceptual Magic is so difficult to use and is one of the factors that decide whether a mage is genuinely an elite or not. After all, this is a form of magic that grants individuals the ability to control the fundamental laws of any universe.
nMany people or mages can control the Laws or Authorities in their universe. However, once they leave their universe, they will lose that ability–unless they can use True Conceptual Magic that Merlin taught Edward.
nWith it, mages can force the Universe’s Will to hand over whatever Authority they know and use it in their home universe.
n‘Is this the power of the protagonist? The Power of Destiny?’ thought Edward. Over the years, he analyzed the curse on him before discovering a way to remove it. By interacting with “destined” individuals, or people who have a significant influence in the Black Clover Universe’s plot, he can steal some power of destiny from them to remove the curse.
nHowever, the interactions should not wholly change the plot beyond measures, and he also has to be secretive when stealing destiny. On top of all that, he still had to play Julius’ role. To be precise, Edward inherited most if not all of Julius’ Destiny and used most of it to remove the curse.
nFinally, when he placed Asta in the Black Bulls Squad–where he was destined to go–he finally acquired the last straw of destiny to become completely free.
nAfter a quick review of Asta’s result, Edward secretly nodded in satisfaction. One of the main reasons he came to this world was for Julius’ Magic and Asta’s Anti-Magic and his Willpower.
nEdward did not want to use the slow way to increase his Willpower, so he focused on people like Asta, Captain America, and Thanos; people born or who developed terrifying Willpower; they were his shortcuts.
n“Let me see your sword,” said Edward, and Asta handed it over without question. The moment he touched, Edward felt his mana being drained at an alarming rate.
nSecondly, he noticed a strange energy being released from the sword.
n‘Anti-Magic Energy? Could this be the answer to Dr. Jekyll’s Polarity of Mana Theory?’
nDr. Jekyll was one of the scientists that Edward brought back from his previous voyage. The man’s research on the soul through science gave him a lot of advantages once he became an Arcanist.
nHis primary research involved the concept of Polarity of the Soul, or Yin and Yang. He divided the soul into “Good Soul” and “Bad Soul” to study its effect. And he even theorized that mana did not only have different frequencies but also polarities.
nA Positive Polarity, or Yang Nature, and a Negative Polarity, Yin Nature. And Edward believed that the Negative Polarity is the Anti-Magic Energy that Asta used in the story.
n‘As long as I gather enough data, I should be able to change the Polarity of my mana and use Anti-Magic.’
nEdward looked at Asta’s Grimoire. He frowned at his discovery. It contained a storage spell that allowed the owner to keep objects inside but no information on Anti-magic.
n“Kid, I will throw a few attacks at you. All you have to do is block them,” said Edward once he finished reading.
n“Yes, sir,” replied Asta as he held that large blade in front of him. Then, Edward threw many elemental spells toward him while Asta nullified all of them with his sword.
nEdward proceeded to test different attributes at him, and he could still nullify all of them–as long as they were made from mana.
n“Now, I will use more power, so be prepared.”
n“I’m ready.”
nEdward stopped for a moment before remembering something. “I will give you a physical boost first.”
nErudite Magic: Body Enhancement
nImmediately, Asta felt a surge of strength rushing all over his body.
n“I feel so fired up.”
nHe swung his sword in the sky, and with sheer physical force, he scattered all the clouds in Kikka Town.
n“Focus.”
n“Yes, sir.”
nLiquid Mana Tehcnique: Small Sun.
nThe Liquid Mana and Crystal Mana techniques are alternative ways that Edward found to use mana in this world. His magic core is sealed; every time he uses it, he feels a warning force trying to expel him out of this universe.
nSo, he created a method to temporarily liquefy and crystalize as a technique to boost spells. Because of these techniques, his magic squad full of commoners could compete with other nobles despite their lack of mana.
nThe small sun rushed to Asta, and he tried to cut it into and nullify the spells. Unfortunately, the power was beyond his capabilities. Edward frowned before interrupting the spell.
n“Kid, come here.”
nAfter Asta arrived in front of him obediently, Edward explained to him.
n“Your sword contained a special power that can nullify magic. However, your body must be physically strong enough to use this power. Do you understand?”
nAsta nodded his head, so Edwar continued:
n“Your body has a natural limiter to prevent more energy from entering inside and killing you. I will remove that limitation and grant you the power you can have in the future.
n“However, this power will try to overwhelm your mind, so do not let it. Are you ready?”
nAsta slapped his face with both hands before saying: “I’m ready.”
nHe understood that this was an opportunity to become more powerful, so he would not waste it.
n“Aright.”
nEdward then used blood magic to remove the limiter on Asta’s body. Immediately afterward, he fell to the ground while having a seizure. Black marks and aura emanated from his body along with one pair of wings.
n“Devil Power,” said Yami, who watched everything quietly while smoking. And it was not just him who identified this power, but all the other Captains did.
nFor a moment, all of them became tense as they looked at Asta before they remembered who is that man standing in front of them. They all knew that if there was a devil in the kingdom, it was it that should be scared.
nA few seconds later, Asta stood up from the ground with two pairs of wings, two different eyes colors, and a few black lines running through his body.
n“Huh, what a terrible experience. But I feel so much stronger now. Yuno, come fight me.”
n“Kid, don’t get cocky; you are too far from mastering this kind of power,” said Edward.
n“Yes, sir.”
n“Alright, let’s continue the test.”
nEdward then threw the mini sun at him again. After fighting with it for half a minute, Asta could slice and nullify it. Finally, Edward used the Crystal Mana Technique to throw a mini Sun at least 10 meters in diameter.
nAsta could only divert the attack away but not nullify it.
n‘So, Anti-magic can nullify both Liquid and Crystal Mana. However, a certain concentration is required. If this kid could make an anti-magic core, he would create a new subclass of Arcanist.
n‘And as long as some people in the Empire are compatible with Anti-Magic, they can change into that new class.’
nOnce Edward finished gathering data and planning for the future of the Empire, he had one last thing to do: talk to Asta’s Devil, Liebe. This thing might be involved with the core secrets of this world–even without knowing it.
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